Each week I will be posting a memory about my children. When I get done with them, I'll do ones on my grandkids. I'm sure eventually I'll get around to memories about my own life, but those will require much thinking on my part. I figure I have enough kids and grandkids to keep me busy for a while though. And I also want to do an individual Wednesday's Walk on my two older girls. I combined them into one post two weeks ago because growing up, they were most always together. But I have some wonderful memories of them as individuals as well, so will do those in the future.
Today though, I want to take a walk down memory lane and tell you about my daughter, Sandy. She was, is, and always will be, my baby.
When Sandy was born, she had a head of hair that had four different colors to it. All the nurses would come to my room from the other floors just to see it. It was shades of red, blond, white and auburn. One nurse told me it looked like she had a paint brush in my tummy and just streaked it all these colors. It looked like what we would call today, a weave. It was beautiful. And to top it all off, she had a tail. It was long and curly down the back of her neck. It was almost like a pony tail. With her sandy colored hair, her button nose and dimpled chin, she was the cutest baby in the hospital. No, really. She was.
Sandy knew as a small toddler what she liked and didn't like, fashion wise. If it wasn't cute and girly, she would refuse to wear it. Understand, there was 7 years between her and Connie. All my baby girl clothes were long gone. I had tons of overalls and jeans from Adam that she could have worn because they were for boys and girls. But not her. She would scream if I tried to put "those uggy clothes" on her! Now tell me, how can you argue with a face like this?
The answer to that one is...you can't! I lost that war a long, long time ago.
Sandy's crowing glory when she was growing up was her hair. It was long and curly. I remember when she was around three years old, some lady at the grocery store asked me if her hair was permed. Um...hello? She's three years old! Of course I didn't have it permed!
It was curly and it was also thick. Trying to get a comb through it was a nightmare. But I didn't want to cut it, so every day we would go through the painstaking task of brushing it out. It was worth it though, because it was beautiful and it made her feel pretty and girly, which is what she wanted.
As Sandy got older, her hair got thicker. The one good thing about that was it was not as curly. But it was still hard to brush out. So I tried to keep her hair braided or in a pony tail as much as possible. I am sure she still remembers the night time when I would have to brush it out and braid it. She'd cry and cry, but she still wouldn't let me cut it.
It was around this time when Sandy's two older sisters got pregnant. At.the.same.time. Oh, and let's not forget, they were still teenagers living at home. And also at this time, I was newly married to Jack and had full custody of little Jack. So my household numbers went from just the five of us to nine of us. And also at this time, I went from being a SAHM to working full time. (Good time, good times!)
Poor Sandy kind of got lost in the shuffle. I sometimes wish I could get those years back for her. She was so good about it though. She was a happy kid in school, got good grades, and kept her room spotless. (Wait...what? What happened to that Sandy?)
We used to go camping a lot when the kids were growing up. Oh, I loved camping. I mean, I really, really loved camping. I mean, in a tent, out in the woods type camping. One year we went camping almost the whole summer. We took the kids to Carlsbad, CA for a week and camped by the ocean. Then we packed up and headed up to Santa Cruz for a week and camped in the woods. We came home and headed to Roosevelt Lake for another four days of camping. The kids finally begged to go home to their own beds and a real shower. I on the other hand, could have gone another few days. (Did I tell you that I really love camping?) My poor kids hadn't had a decent shower since we left Carlsbad. But hey, we had a great time.
When we were in Santa Cruz we were by the beach and Sandy was going to take the left over hamburger and hot dog buns to the trash. She asked if she could feed them to a few of the seagulls that were flying around. I told her to go ahead.
Well soon, those "couple seagulls" soon became around forty or fifty seagulls. I have a picture somewhere but can't find it of her standing in the middle of the drive with all these seagulls on the ground around her. She was in her glory! (I wish I could find that picture...)
My battle with Sandy's hair began to get ugly. She didn't want me brushing it, but she wouldn't brush it either. Soon she got a big knot in the back of her hair (I mean a HUGE knot!) I finally convinced her to let me take her to get it cut. Well, the gal who cut it took way to much off. My little girl was broken hearted.
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I know you can't tell it from these pictures, but trust me. She cried and cried. For a long time she walked around with her hands on her head. And it took years to grow back. She made up her mind that she would never get it cut like that again.
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| I had to do a bad hair day for her since I did a few on her brother last week! |
Finally, after several years, Sandy's long hair came back. It was long and thick and she still got knots in it, but at least now, it was her problem, not mine. But let me tell you, I broke a few vacuum belts and beater bars because of all that hair!
I have to share this picture of Sandy also, because I did do several on Adam. She had me braid her hair one day. This is what it looked like...
Sandy grew up and soon got her first job. She got a job at a pizza parlor. She was so thrilled to finally be earning a pay check. All I could think about was, my baby is growing up too fast. She loved her job though, and they loved her. Of course they would! She came in on her days off and worked overtime whenever they asked her, which was all the time! Like I said, she loved her paycheck!
About this time, Jack's eldest daughter's husband walked out on her and her three year old. Having no place to go, and pretty much homeless, she got on a bus and came to Arizona. So now Sandy had to share her room with two other people. Those were not the best of times...let me tell you. About this time Sandy went from keeping a spotless room to a messy room. Well, with two adults and a three year old, it was kind of hard to keep it clean.
Sandy moved out when she became an adult and got her own place. She came back at one point because she needed to save money. She moved out again when she got married. Sadly, that marriage was a huge mistake and didn't last six months. Actually, not too sad because he turned out to be a real jerk and a huge liar! At the time, she had a huge settlement from a hit and run accident (they had to use the jaws of life to get her out, and she was in the hospital for a few days), and he managed to run through it all before she had a chance to stop him. It was a shame. But she is so much better off without him.
Then she met Jeffrey. We thought he was going to be just a phase.
Don't let the mean looks fool you. He's not so tough. I think I scare him way more than he scared me!
Well Jeffrey turned out to not be a phase. This picture was taken almost seven years ago and they are still together. Today they are the parents of four of my grandchildren. Lilly will be six in a few days, Desi is almost five, JJ is one and a half, and Aubrianna is two months. They make beautiful babies!
Sandy and I are very close. She calls me every day to check in and see how we are doing. I am proud of the fine woman she has become. It is hard for me to believe she has four kids! I mean, she still is my baby and all. She tells me she is finished, and I hope she's right! Jeffrey is a great daddy and loves his babies. I would not want to be the guy that asks one of those girls out though...He is a very protective papa bear!
Next week I will probably do my son Jack. I don't have memories of him before he was seven, but I do have his baby pictures so I will post some. He was a cute, cute little boy. And now he is such a handsome man. I can't wait to share my memories of him. So till tomorrow,
Be blessed,
Sue
